God Katharagama

It is believed that God Katharagama has six heads and twelve hands and he was sitting on a peacock. Hindus, Veddas, and Buddhists all worship God Katharagama in Sri Lanka. According to legend, this god once resided at the summit of the mountain known as Wedehitikanda. The Sri Lankans believe that God Katharagama is a native of Sri Lanka and has long been worshiped in local myth and culture. It says that before becoming Buddhist, the Sinhalese worshipped the God Saman, mistakenly identified as the local deity. The story says that Skanda was the second son of Siva and Parvathi who lived on Mount Kailasa. Vedda believes Katharagama was their sacred location associated with the ancestors because God had a connection with a girl who was raised by Veddas.

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God Katharagama has several different names. The Tamils refer to the God as Kumaran, Kandaswamy, Kanda, Kadiraman, Arumukan, Kugan, Kulagan etc. While the Sinhalese refer to him as Dev Senevi, Kumara, Kanda, or Mahasen.

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According to legend, Skanda Kumar(God Katharagama) was a famous hunter. One day while he was out hunting, he saw a beautiful girl named Walli Amma at a thana-hena. He loved that girl who was the adopted daughter of local Vedda. He wanted to marry her and made her his second wife. When Skanda gave her a marriage proposal and she refused it. Later he went and consulted his brother Ganesh and asked for his help.

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Ganesh proposed to him to appear as an old Brahmana before the Walliamma as she is very afraid of Elephant, handing over the chanted water jug. He also instructed him to throw the water on his body (elephant) when she cried for help. As per Ganesha’s instruction Skanda appeared before Walliamma and asked for some food. Ganesha suddenly appeared next to them in the form of an elephant. At this moment Walliamma hanged over the Brahmana pleading with him to protect her from the Elephant. At that time, the Skanda chased away the elephant throwing water at the elephant. As the Skanda saved her from the elephant at that precise moment, she fell in love with him. Then Skanda married her as his second wife. According to the legend, Ganesh’s head side remained as an elephant, and his backside changed to become human. The reason for this was the chanted water jar throwed only the rear side of the elephant in this exciting moment.

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However, the majority of Sri Lankan businessmen worshipped God Katharagama on December 31st at midnight and prayed for blessings.

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